Psalm 23, 30 March 14

This week however, being the last Sunday of the month, we take advantage of the presence of a male voice quartet to do something different.

Remaining respectful both to the much-loved phrases of this psalm and to the spirit of Lent, we sing tranquillamente a setting in the beautiful Spanish language from Psalms for all seasons 23-I, written in 1975 by Ricardo Villarreal. The people’s refrain is as follows:

This is sung in a minor key alternating with its dominant seventh. Listen, however, as the cantors slip down a tone into a major key for the verses, before modulating back to that minor for the refrain. Neat and effective. (Coincidentally, it’s similar to the attractive pattern I commented upon when we sang Show me which way to go a few weeks ago, though the changes come in a different sequence.)

But wait …

… there’s more.

We don’t do things by halves; so we hope also to sing a second Spanish song from Argentina (TiS 723) later in the service as either meditation after the ministry of the word, or during communion.